Saturday, July 30, 2011

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Title: Little Brother

Author: Cory Doctorow

Published: Tor Books, 2008

Pages: 382

Summary: Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself. (Taken from Goodreads)

Thoughts: Paranoia, terrorism, people gone amok, fear, uprising, technology and coffee. This is mostly what Little Brother by Cory Doctorow consists of. A few chapters into Little Brother I started thinking it seemed a little like a modern day 1984. With the government keeping tabs on everyone and there being a select group of people trying to rebel.

I didn’t really like any of the characters in the book. They all had little things that annoyed me. Marcus just didn’t interest me all that much. I just thought he was kind of boring. I was more interested in his mum, she seemed like a more interesting and deep character. When he was doing all the getting back at the man stuff, I thought that was interesting.

There was a lot of information in Little Brother in regards to technology and that was the stuff I liked the best. I thought the stuff about xbox was very interesting. Also, the technology on how they keep tabs on people was very interesting; I have to say that it definitely made me glad that I don’t have to endure that type of privacy invasion.

The ending of Little Brother disappointed me a little bit; there was just something about it that wasn’t quite right. It felt kind of cheesy and unrealistic.

Overall, I thought that Little Brother was an interesting enough book. It’s not a book I’d read again but it was interesting to look at in regards to technology and privacy and how far is too far when it comes to invading privacy and taking away human rights. I just wasn’t a fan of the main character Marcus.